There is an ever-increasing need to improve the cutting of cigar tips to prepare the cigars for smoking. Cigars are rolled within a smooth wrapper leaf to hold the ground flavor leaves in form and to provide an aesthetic look and feel. While the wrapper leaf is typically removed at the burning end by slicing at the factory, the wrapper leaf is left covering the mouth end to allow the user to prepare the mouth end according to his own preference. Of course, the non-porous wrapper leaf at the mouth end must be breached to allow the user to suck smoke through the cigar.
Such preparation typically falls within two types; punching and slicing. Punching is accomplished by pushing a cylindrical cutter longitudinally into the mouth end of the cigar and removing a “plug” to create a hole through the wrapper at the mouth end. Slicing is accomplished by pushing one or more sharp blades transversely across the mouth end of the cigar to remove the tip. This tip creates an inconvenience . . . the sliced-off tip falls from cutter and must either be caught by the user and discarded or else it will fall to the floor, creating litter and worse.
In using most two-blade cigar slicing cutters, such as those shown in U.S. Pat. No. 9,883,694, the user holds the cutter in one hand and the cigar in the other. He first opens the cutter to create a gap between the blades with the hand holding the cutter. Then he puts the mouth end of the cigar between the open blades with his other hand. Then he forces the blades closed with his first hand causing them to slice through the cigar and remove the tip. Because both hands are occupied, the tip falls to the floor or onto a nearby table or other furnishing. He apologizes to anyone who may have been struck by it or witnessed the offense, and bends down to retrieve it for disposal, leaving flakes of tobacco behind.
Further, prior art two-blade cutters typically include a mechanism for synchronizing the blades. There are meant to ensure that both of the opposing blades open and close equally, oppositely, and simultaneously. But such mechanisms are fraught with complication and expense and are found to be short-lived and prone to failure. For instance, the mechanism of the cuter shown in U.S. Pat. No. 9,883,694 includes a gearing system including a ring gear and three spur gears. The forces required during cigar cutting eventually overcome the strength of the gear teeth and some get broken off or worn. This disrupts the synchronization of the blades and leads to the inability to fully close the cutter. One blade remains slightly extended when the other has reached its closed position. And the blades become nonsymmetrical such that the cutter can no longer receive fatter cigars.
There exists a need for, and it is an object of the invention to provide, a slicing cigar cutter which captures the cut-off tip and retains it within the cutter for disposal at the user's convenience. There also exists a need for, and it is an additional object of the invention to provide, a slicing cigar cutter with a simplified, less expensive-to-manufacture, and more reliable operating mechanism.
Additional needs and objects of the invention may become apparent upon review of the included disclosure.